ANavigator Weekly Amazon Digest — Week 36

7 Sep 2026

ANavigator Weekly Amazon Digest — Week 36

This week brought nine updates worth tracking, from a new FTC lawsuit over Amazon’s ad pricing to a set migration date for one of Amazon’s ad formats, a fulfillment discount, and FBM policy changes. Amazon also confirmed a delivery surcharge already live on real listings and shipped several dashboard improvements. Here is what changed and what you should do about it.

📌 Contents

  1. FTC Sues Amazon Over Advertising Pricing Practices
  2. Amazon Sets Migration Timeline From Product Collections to Sponsored Brands Collections
  3. Amazon Cuts MCF Fulfillment Rates 35% for TikTok Shop Orders
  4. Amazon Will Deactivate Individual FBM Offers Instead of Full Accounts
  5. Amazon Can Now Override FBM Handling Times in the UK
  6. Amazon’s Sub Same Day Surcharge Is Now Showing Up on Real Listings
  7. Amazon Ads Agent Is Now Live in the Ad Console
  8. Amazon Adds Four New Filters and Search Improvements to Manage Promotions
  9. Amazon Adds Campaign-Specific Bulksheet Downloads

 

1. FTC Sues Amazon Over Advertising Pricing Practices
The Federal Trade Commission has sued Amazon, joined by more than 20 U.S. states, over its advertising marketplace, according to Reuters. The central claim is that Amazon secretly raised the minimum price sellers had to pay to place ads promoting their products. Amazon Ads has become one of the most important levers brands use on the platform, and also one of the hardest to fully audit. CPCs move for real reasons: category competition, seasonality, Prime events, and conversion rates all play a role, so a rising CPC on its own is not evidence of anything.

What the lawsuit raises is a separate question: whether some of that cost came from changes sellers never had visibility into, rather than from the auction itself. The case will likely take time to resolve, but it’s a reminder to track CPCs against TACoS, organic sales, placement performance, and keyword-level efficiency, rather than just watching whether ad sales went up. A number without a clear read on cost per outcome makes it hard to catch a change like this early.

Read more here by Nikolai Tahmin

2. Amazon Sets Migration Timeline From Product Collections to Sponsored Brands Collections
Amazon has confirmed that Product Collections will be retired in February 2027, with Sponsored Brands collections taking its place. Sponsored Brands collections is an existing Sponsored Brands ad format that supports up to 10 related products in a single ad, built either as an automatic collection, where products are selected based on shopping signals, or a manual collection, where the advertiser picks the products directly.

The migration starts earlier than the retirement date: beginning in September 2026, eligible Product Collections ads will receive migration recommendations inside Campaign Manager and through the Amazon Ads API. Advertisers can review each recommended Sponsored Brands collections ad, edit the product selection before it goes live, and accept recommendations one at a time or in bulk. Anything not migrated by February 2027 gets moved automatically, but Amazon is recommending an early migration to avoid a rushed transition later. The practical step now is to start checking Campaign Manager for migration recommendations and building new campaigns directly in Sponsored Brands collections instead of Product Collections.

Read more here by Noah Wickham

3. Amazon Cuts MCF Fulfillment Rates 35% for TikTok Shop Orders
Amazon is running a live promotion that cuts Standard and Expedited Multichannel Fulfillment rates by 35% for TikTok Shop orders shipped in the US. MCF uses the same fulfillment centers, inventory pool, and delivery network that already powers FBA, so this effectively extends FBA-level fulfillment to TikTok Shop orders at a discount. The detail sellers need to catch is what happens underneath: for any order attributed to TikTok Shop, this 35% promo rate replaces the 2026 Preferred Pricing discount, so that discount doesn’t apply to those orders. Those same units, however, still count toward the volume thresholds that decide a seller’s Preferred Pricing tier, and they don’t draw down the Preferred Pricing benefit cap or the FBA credit cap. In practice, TikTok Shop volume can move a seller into a stronger Preferred Pricing tier on every other order shipped, without touching the ceiling that limits how much of that discount can be used. This is worth acting on now: route TikTok Shop orders through a supported integration partner, keep inventory in a single MCF pool, and track whether the added volume moves your account into a stronger tier before year-end.

Read more here by Vanessa Hung

4. Amazon Will Deactivate Individual FBM Offers Instead of Full Accounts
Starting August 31, Amazon changed how it responds to FBM offers that put Account Health at risk: instead of penalizing the entire account, it will deactivate only the individual offer causing the problem. The policies under review include Cancellation Rate, Late Shipment Rate, Order Defect Rate, and On-Time Delivery Rate. Amazon sends a warning email ahead of any deactivation, laying out the issue and the steps needed to resolve it, and deactivated offers can be reviewed under Other Policy Violations in the Account Health dashboard. Other active listings and a seller’s overall Account Health score stay untouched. This is a meaningful shift for FBM sellers who have previously seen one weak SKU threaten an entire account’s standing. The practical move is to check the Account Health dashboard regularly so a warning email doesn’t go unnoticed, since the window to fix the issue before deactivation is limited.

Read more here by Will Haire

5. Amazon Can Now Override FBM Handling Times in the UK
As of September 1, Amazon has started taking more control over FBM handling times in the UK. If Amazon’s data shows a seller consistently dispatching an SKU faster than the handling time they set, and that gap holds for more than 30 days, Amazon can automatically shorten it through Automated Handling Time. The reasoning: Amazon says 90% of UK FBM orders already dispatch within one day, and a slower delivery promise than necessary can hurt both conversion and a seller’s competitiveness for the Featured Offer. That logic makes commercial sense from a shopper’s point of view, since a customer comparing two delivery dates has no way to know one seller built in deliberate buffer. The risk is that Amazon can see the historical dispatch data but not the operational reason behind it, whether that’s warehouse capacity, weekend orders, peak periods, or carrier collection schedules. Sellers running meaningful FBM volume in the UK should check their SKU-level handling times now, before Amazon decides what the promise should be instead of just measuring whether it was met.

Read more here by James Howard

6. Amazon’s Sub Same Day Surcharge Is Now Showing Up on Real Listings
A seller spotted a new surcharge for Sub Same Day delivery live on an actual product listing, which confirms something that had only been signaled through an internal notice until now. Sub Same Day delivery, a fulfillment speed shoppers could previously access at no extra cost once their order passed the basket size minimum, now carries an added charge visible to the shopper at checkout. This sighting lines up with a notice Amazon sent sellers a couple of weeks earlier, inviting them to bid for Sub Same Day placement inside fulfillment centers. Together, the two pieces suggest Amazon has already started converting its fastest delivery tier into a paid, competitive placement, rather than this being a future plan still in testing. Sellers who compete on delivery speed should check their own listings for this surcharge directly, since it appears to be live before any formal announcement. Both the shopper-facing charge and the fulfillment center bidding option are worth tracking closely if speed is part of your value proposition.

Read more here by Jon Derkits

7. Amazon Ads Agent Is Now Live in the Ad Console
Amazon has moved Ads Agent into the Ad Console, giving its AI-powered Marketing Cloud analysis tool a new home and a new interface, while keeping the underlying AI features the same. The most useful additions are organizational: session history is now saved, so advertisers can return to earlier AMC analyses instead of starting each question from zero. Conversations can be grouped into folders by project or campaign, important sessions can be pinned, and closed sessions can be reopened at any time. None of this changes what Ads Agent can analyze, but it changes how usable that analysis is over time. What used to be a single, disconnected conversation now works closer to an ongoing workspace, which helps teams running recurring AMC queries across multiple campaigns.

Read more here by Ivan Marynych

8. Amazon Adds Four New Filters and Search Improvements to Manage Promotions
Amazon shipped four updates to the Manage Promotions dashboard, based on seller feedback. Promotion type, status, and store filters now sit above the results table instead of being buried in a side panel, which makes it faster to narrow down a large list of promotions. The page also now remembers the filters you had selected last time, so you’re not resetting them on every visit. A new claim code search lets you paste a code straight into the search bar to jump to its Buy X Get Y promotion instead of scrolling to find it. The dashboard also defaults to the store you’re currently signed into, pre-filtering promotions automatically rather than showing every store at once. None of these are large changes individually, but together they cut real time out of managing promotions across a big catalog or multiple stores.

Read more here by Mansour Norouzi

9. Amazon Adds Campaign-Specific Bulksheet Downloads
Amazon has added the option to download bulksheets for only the specific campaigns a seller selects, instead of exporting the entire account every time. It’s a small operational change, but one that saves real time for teams managing bulk edits across a large catalog of campaigns. Previously, sellers working on a handful of campaigns still had to export and filter through the full account bulksheet just to make a small set of changes. That extra step adds up for teams doing bulk edits often. Sellers who regularly export bulksheets to make targeted changes should switch to the campaign-specific download, since it removes a step from a routine task without changing how bulksheets work.

Read more here by Prem Gupta

That’s nine updates across advertising, fulfillment, and account health this week, and the FTC lawsuit is the one worth watching longest given how much of Amazon’s ad economics remain opaque to sellers. Subscribe to the ANavigator blog to get next week’s digest as soon as it’s published.

If you want to stay updated on Amazon changes, subscribe to our blog.

If you need support with PPC, DSP, AMC, analytics, or a long-term growth strategy, contact the ANavigator team at info@anavigator.co

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Embracing Change and Innovation in Amazon E-commerce
blog
December 1, 2023
Embracing Change and Innovation in Amazon E-commerce

Amazon E-commerce Innovation: Embracing Change in a Dynamic Marketplace

The Amazon marketplace, known for its dynamic and ever-changing nature, presents a fascinating world of opportunities and challenges for sellers and brands. This platform, which started as a relatively open market, has evolved into a complex and competitive arena, demanding continuous adaptation and Amazon e-commerce innovation from its participants.

Since its early days as a burgeoning online marketplace, Amazon has transformed into a global e-commerce powerhouse, reshaping the way products are sold and marketed. Sellers now face an environment where standing out requires not only quality products but also strategic, data-driven approaches and a deep understanding of Amazon e-commerce innovation trends. Recognizing and adapting to these shifts is essential for anyone looking to carve out a successful niche in this competitive space.

Key Aspects of Amazon E-commerce Innovation

Amazon continues to drive innovation by introducing tools and programs that enable brands to optimize their presence and marketing efforts. From advanced PPC advertising options to the powerful DSP services Amazon offers, sellers have access to robust tools that enhance their visibility and help them reach their ideal customer base. This level of innovation requires sellers to constantly adapt their strategies, ensuring they make the most of these features to maximize their reach and profitability.

Moreover, Amazon’s emphasis on customer experience influences its evolving policies and standards, pushing sellers to keep up with quality, delivery, and product standards. This drive for innovation affects not only marketing approaches but also operational efficiency, requiring sellers to align their logistics and customer service with Amazon’s high standards. As the platform continues to evolve, sellers need to stay informed of the latest innovations in e-commerce to maintain a competitive edge.

Adapting to Change for Long-Term Success

Thriving in Amazon’s competitive landscape requires more than just an understanding of the basics. Successful sellers invest in learning about Amazon e-commerce innovation to make informed decisions and respond proactively to shifts in market trends and customer expectations. By embracing change, optimizing advertising strategies, and staying current with Amazon’s latest tools, sellers can ensure their businesses grow and succeed.

In the ever-evolving world of Amazon, adaptability and innovation are keys to long-term success. Those who actively embrace Amazon’s innovations and changes in the e-commerce landscape will find themselves well-positioned to thrive.

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Amazon’s “Targeting with AI” Just Got Its First Strategy. Here Is What the Beta Actually Does.
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Amazon’s “Targeting with AI” Just Got Its First Strategy. Here Is What the Beta Actually Does.
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Weekly Amazon Digest: unBoxed 2026 Special Edition. Everything Announced at the Event, in One Place
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Weekly Amazon Digest: unBoxed 2026 Special Edition. Everything Announced at the Event, in One Place
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The bigger change is that you'll increasingly manage campaigns by asking it questions in plain language. - One platform. Ads Agent brings the Ads Console and Amazon DSP together. Sponsored Ads, Full-Funnel Campaigns and DVA+ are now all managed in the same place. - Media planning. You can ask it to size audiences, forecast reach and suggest how to split your budget. It can also compare how much new reach different options would add. - AI targeting. You describe the audience you want, and it recommends products, categories, keywords and Amazon audiences to target. Amazon says advertisers using it reached 25%+ more unique customers at a 10%+ lower cost per impression. - Sponsored Products guidance. It finds optimization opportunities in your Sponsored Products campaigns. You can apply them in one click. - Analytics by conversation. Instead of building reports, you ask questions about performance. 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You set the goal, and Amazon's AI manages the channel mix, audiences, creative and optimization across Sponsored Ads, display, video and audio. - Beta results. Amazon says beta advertisers saw 67% higher long-term return on ad spend and 29% lower cost to acquire new-to-brand customers. These are Amazon's own figures. DVA+ (rolling out from late October) - One campaign. Display, video and audio run in a single campaign with one goal and one budget. - Two setups. You can choose a simple setup where AI makes most decisions, or advanced programmatic controls. These include targeting, supply selection, deals, frequency caps and bidding strategies. What this means for you: Full-Funnel Campaigns are an easy way for brands that have only run Sponsored Ads to test upper-funnel media. The trade-off is less control over where the money goes, so start with a clear goal and a limited test budget. Read more here about Full-Funnel Campaigns and DVA+   3. 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Review Requests ads Review Requests (November 2026) A new ad format that asks recent buyers to rate your product. - Who sees it. Ads reach verified buyers who recently purchased your product, on busy pages like the Amazon homepage. - One tap. Customers can leave a star rating in one tap, then add text, photos or video if they want. - Early results. Amazon says products in early testing got around three times as many ratings and reviews each week. What this means for you: This matters most for new launches, where a low review count often holds back conversion. It gives you a direct way to ask buyers for ratings through Amazon's own system. Read more about the Review Requests ads update here   5. Also from unBoxed - Tools for AI agents. MCP Server Lite lets AI agents work with Amazon Ads without loading the full toolset. The AMC Expert Tool turns a plain-language question into an AMC SQL query, which makes AMC far easier to use without SQL skills. Source - Sponsored Services. A new ad format that connects shoppers with local service pros like plumbers and movers, shown on product, order confirmation and tracking pages. It's live in the US for eligible Yelp advertisers and doesn't affect most product brands. Source - Announced earlier. Amazon also featured Campaign Intelligence, Auto-optimization and Ads Data Manager, which we covered in our Accelerate 2026 digest. It also featured the ChatGPT Ads pilot for select US advertisers using Amazon DSP, which was announced on September 10. Source   6. Final thoughts Almost everything at unBoxed comes back to one change. Amazon wants you to manage advertising by talking to an AI agent rather than clicking through campaign settings, and the new campaign types hand more decisions to Amazon's AI. That will save time, but it also means less visibility into why the system makes the choices it does. Brands that set clear goals, test carefully and keep checking results on their own will get the most out of it. Not sure which of these updates are worth acting on for your account? Book a free audit and we'll go through it with you.   If you want to stay updated on Amazon changes, subscribe to our blog. If you need support with PPC, DSP, AMC, analytics, or a long-term growth strategy, contact the ANavigator team at info@anavigator.co  Book a call to get a FREE AUDIT by the link below:     Book a call – FREE AUDIT   Follow my Weekly Newsletter on LinkedIn:  / amazon-digest-for-brands-7232361008185372672   Follow me on LinkedIn:  / ookovalov Follow ANavigator on social media:  / anavigator    /@anavigator_official  / anavigator7    / @anavigators     LinkedIn page to contact us:   Author: Oleksandr Kovalov Role: Founder & CEO @ ANavigator — The ANavigator Team
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